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Welcome "back", Statik. Tram and Lou were a special case in that they were a double play combination that could also hit some: (Divisional era, played 80%+ games at either 2B/SS, 7500+ plate appearances) So they were historically special because they depended on each other on the field as well. Riley and TORK! do not and never will. So it is a little different on that front. That said, I'm not sure a 2022-era DP-combination at the level of Tram and Lou is necessarily more likely to get the money and extensions to keep them in their first organization now than they would have 20 or 30 or 40 years ago. For one thing, can you imagine the cost? Paying them their worth for even 15 years—let alone 19—would probably cost well over half a billion dollars just for those two. Sure, practically every team can afford that and more, but given the budgets teams impose on themselves in the interest of maximizing profit, such money would definitely come out of the rest of the team. Secondly, they'd have to come up in an organization willing to pay two guys that kind of money to keep them long-term. That probably reduces the list of possible teams from 30 to a dozen tops, of which the Ilitch Tigers probably are not one, especially with the old man gone. Lastly, both guys would have to want to stay with that organization and work out a deal with them, and all three entities might be so strong-willed they don't give an inch in negotiations. Typically speaking, the ballclub and player rarely agree on what the value of that player is, so to make this kind of thing work, one side or the other would probably have to give in some on their demands just in the interest of keeping the two guys together for those 15 or so years. It seems like there are more barriers to making that happen in the 2020s and 2030s than there were in the 1970s through 1990s.

You can never have too much pitching ...

Roger’s handlers won’t let Johnny in the same room with him. 😉

Good chance Roger is in the park for the debut. Most parents sit in the stands. I’m guessing he won’t be.

Who’s worse, and how?

No sympathy! 😜

Honest question: can you sign a guy who is currently on a major league contract to a minor league contract? Without googling even once, I’m guessing you can’t. The major league contract is still force because they’re still paying him. A new team would take on the major league contract and pay him the minimum, but can they then stash him in the minors until needed? Minor league options don’t apply to a six-plus-year guy, do they?

Exactly. I have no sympathy for anyone who has the twenty dollars to subscribe to MLB Audio and hack an audio overlay, yet still subjects themselves to Shep and Old Player instead and then comes in here and whines about how bad they are. What the hell do you expect, amirite. I mean—I’m not saying stop. It’s entertaining to see posters whinge about things completely within their control. I’m just saying, come on, if you hate it so bad, take a little initiative here.

It’d be nice to see Soto bust right-handed hitters at 99+ up in Zone 1 every so often, except he’s got little enough command that the ball would go way up into Zone 11 and end up separating some guy’s jaw from the rest of his head.

Don’t look now, but in his last eight appearances going back to May 13, Gregory Soto has pitched 7-2/3 innings and given up no runs on four hits and one walk (!) to earn five saves, a hold, and a win. The only thing I can ding him on is he’s gotten only four strikeouts, but hey—can’t argue with those kinds of results.

So what?

Is that one of the reasons he’s your former boss?

That’s what I mean. It wasn’t a close play. My early take on TORK! is that he’s a hothead, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him get into some kerfuffles with opponents … perhaps even teammates.

You can also definitely make a strategic blunder by concentrating on building and perfecting your pitching while letting the hitting chips fall wherever.

Lange? I don’t know, that why I said maybe.

Wow, TORK! really winged that one over to Lange. A little frustration at him, maybe?

Sun got in Willi’s eyes on that one … 😏

Even worse: the Tigers are the only team with a DH to “achieve” this dubious distinction.

I do think the 2022 Tigers seriously challenges the maxim “you can never have too much pitching”.

Generous call to give TORK! the single there. He would have been out with an on-target throw. Schoop getting into that rundown made a difference for Jeimer scoring on that play since he’d gotten to second. Willi with the run-scoring single to score TORK! And now Bert’s got his six runs!

Big fan of this term here.

What a fortuitously great view of that Schoop triple from behind the plate.

I know this is super uncool to say, but Republicans really do benefit politically from mass shootings. It highlights political divisions which energizes the 2A absolutists who vote for them and empowers the NRA, the source of many of their political donations. I really do believe that the tremendous increase in NRA power over the past couple of decades has its roots in the way they politicized Columbine.

Here's another list: all the teams in big league history who have scored 125 runs or less in their first 46 games of the season: The run-scoring futility is almost impressive.

We should definitely DFA Javy Baez and sign Dallas Keuchel to play shortstop.